Saturday, May 3, 2014

CONSUR: Uruguay defeat Brazil in Bento Gonçalves

Uruguay took one step closer to winning the South American Championship as Los Teros defeated Brazil 34-9 in Bento Gonçalves on Saturday afternoon. The five tries to zero victory means that Uruguay is the only undefeated team in the competition after two matches and the players can return home knowing that a win in Montevideo over Chile next weekend will secure the title. Argentina is not involved in the South American Championship this year due to the leading South American rugby country instead playing Chile and Uruguay in the CONSUR Cup which starts after the completion of the current tournament.

In what was a first ever test match played in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil hosted southern neighbors Uruguay in front of 3,000 supporters in a second round match in the 2014 South American Championship. With both sides having won their first round encounters today's match was a potential tournament decider.

Brazil had impressed against Chile in the opening round while Uruguay was coming off a win against Paraguay but Brazil was not expected to seriously pose a challenge to Los Teros. Early indications indeed supported this as Uruguay was vastly superior and able to gain territory with ease. Uruguay's forward pack gave the visitors an early lead as the scrum was awarded a penalty try against the head.

Brazilian prop Lucas Abud had been yellow carded in the lead up to the try as Brazil's scrum had been repeatedly penalized by the referee. Brazil did manage to score next with fly half Leandro Castiglione landing his first of three penalties but Uruguay's forwards were on top as Lamanna went over from a maul for a try which was converted by scrumhalf Durán.

Leading 14-3 Uruguay continued to impress and in little time went over for a third try. Having turned down a certain three points Uruguay ended up scoring a very impressive goal which saw the ball circulate through the hands of the backline and Gibernau to score near the right corner flag. Brazil, to its credit, hit back late in the first half with a penalty to end the scoring at 19-6.

The Brazilians then came out the better side to play some impressive rugby for an extended period before Uruguay took control late in the half. Brazil was not rewarded for its efforts as a lone penalty was all that the team managed while Uruguay got ito together late in the half to score two tries and a penalty to complete a bonus point victory. Crossing in the second half replacements Echeverría and Puig.

Uruguay can now prepare for Chile with one eye on the championship title and another on Asia. Los Teros wll face Asia 2 in an elimination Rugby World Cup qualification match later this year. The likely opponent is Hong Kong which has also won two test matches over the past two weekends.